Contents

Gameplay

Budokai Tenkaichi 3 features 161 characters, almost the largest in any fighting game; being topped by Tobal 2, for which Akira Toriyama was a designer. Ryo Mito stated that the game would feature never-before-seen characters made exclusively for the game, referring to the Saiyans' Great Ape forms.[1] Gamestop offered an exclusive version with a bonus DVD containing the top 10 television series battles as voted by fans on the release date.

Future Gohan vs. Android 17

Several new notable features include: Battle Replay, night and day stages, the Wii's online capability, and Disc Fusion. Battle Replay allows players to capture their favorite fights and save them to an SD card to view later on. Night and day stages allow for more accurate battles in Dragon History, as well as the ability to transform into a Great Ape by using the moon. There are also several other time differences, such as dawn and afternoon. Not all stages provide different times. You can also change the aura of your character. The Wii version features online multiplayer capability, the first game in the series to have such a feature. Players can fight against anyone from around the globe with a ranking system showing the player's current standing compared to anyone else who has played online. As compensation for the lack of online, Spike has added a new "Disc Fusion" system to the PlayStation 2 version. Inserting a Budokai Tenkaichi 1 or 2 disc during play unlocks Ultimate Battle or Ultimate Battle Z, modes featured in the respective games needed to unlock them. The game supports 480p display mode only for the Wii version.

Other features in the game include more combo attacks or character specific combos, the Blast Combos, and the Z Burst Dash. The additional combo attacks will be able to help chain in more attacks for more damage and longer combos. The Blast Combos are normal combos used in the game, however by inputting the another button into the attack will allow you to use a blast attack for extra damage. Depending on the moves of the character you might not be able to use this feat such as Videl or Hercule. The Z Burst Dash is much faster and more evasive version of the Dragon Dash. It allows the user to get behind the opponent at high speeds for either a strike or to avoid a Blast 2 attack. The drawback to this technique is that it will rapidly drain the user of energy unless equipped with certain Z-items.

New mechanics

Several new features have been added to Budokai Tenkaichi 3. These include:

Super Saiyan 2 Goku uses Sonic Sway on Majin Vegeta

Sonic Sway – This technique allows the player to evade the opponent's attacks. Since it takes longer for the attacker to get back into their fighting stance than it does the player dodging the attacks, the attacker is left with an open defense. The one evading can then quickly counter-attack their opponent. However, this feature only applies to the weak basic melee strikes, the user will still be hit if they attempt to use Sonic Sway on a Rush or Smash attack.

Rush Ki Wave – A brand new combo finisher exclusive to some characters that allows them to send their opponent flying away with a charged one-handed beam.

Z Burst Dash – An enhanced version of the dash attack from the previous games, this technique allows players to zig and zag behind the opponent as they move at high speed.

The new night system causes Bardock to transform into a Great Ape

The addition of a new day and night system allows certain characters to harness the power of the moon to transform into a Great Ape.

With the addition of the Battle Replay mode, players can now capture up to seven of their favorite fights and watch them again later on. There are also several camera angles that can be used to swap views of the battle: behind the player's shoulder or behind the opponents shoulder. The bars at the top can also be removed for better viewing.

The Wii version does not make use of the Wii's sensor bar. The game instead uses the Wii Remote's accelerometer which provides animations demonstrating how to perform techniques (much like previous games provide the button combinations that are required to execute a technique).[2]

A Battle Replay with the HUD shown

The game's story mode, called Dragon History, has been completely changed from the previous installments. Some cutscenes take place during the middle of a battle, interrupting the fight for a short time while the two characters talk, while others take place during the battle themselves. During in-game cutscenes, dialogue appears at the bottom of the screen as the player fights, and what each character says depends on how the match is going. The player can also issue one-hit KOs in story mode by dealing the blow used to kill their opponent in the source material. The story mode is also significantly shorter than previous installments (missing battles such as Piccolo vs. Cell, and Gohan vs. Super Buu).

A new Z-Point system replaces the leveling system from Budokai Tenkaichi 2. The more Z-Points a character has, the more Z-Items can be equipped.

The Wii port of Budokai Tenkaichi 3 can be played using several different control setups, and is not restricted to the console's Wii Remote and Nunchuk alone. Instead, the player can choose to use the Classic Controller or the GameCube controller, as well. The Classic Controller set up has been best received by critics, whom cite the Wii Remote as a fun method of play for casual gamers, but one that does not always maintain the responsiveness for hardcore gameplay.

Budokai Tenkaichi 3 received "average" reviews on both platforms according to Metacritic. The PlayStation 2 port of the game received a 32 out of 40 from the game magazine Famitsu, while giving the Wii version a score 33 out of 40.[3]

IGN awarded both versions of the game an 8 out of 10, their only complaints being the comparatively underwhelming story mode (in comparison to Budokai Tenkaichi 2), gimmicky Disc Fusion function and the lag experienced while playing online through the Wii's Wi-Fi connection.

In Japan the game sold 282,000 copies on PS2 and 90,000 copies on Wii by the end of 2007.[4] The game had sold 1.04 million copies worldwide as of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008.[5]

Trivia

If Piccolo enters a tournament, his screen name will be MaJunior, as it originally was in the series. In a similar fashion, the screen name will be Shin if one enters the tournament as Supreme Kai.

If one waits a while at the menu screen of the story mode, various characters will occasionally show up and engage in a conversation with Goku, such as Piccolo, Vegeta and Krillin.

Bardock is one of the characters that has to use a full moon to turn into a Great Ape, which goes against the Ocean dub of DBZ in which Vegeta says that Bardock invented the Power Ball technique; this was however a major dub mistake that has long since been abandoned.

Vegeta (Scouter)'s second and third attires have no tail, but he can still transform into a Great Ape.

Like in Budokai Tenkaichi 1 and 2, Cell in any form uses his "Imperfect form" pain sounds when hit. This is due to the Japanese version having a single, consistent voice for Cell, leaving no space to add in extra voice slots for his different forms.

If one fires Android 18's Destructo Disc at Krillin and he uses his as soon as 18's disks are about to make contact, Krillin will summon pink disks instead of his yellow ones.

Goku's profile says that he fought Pikkon in his Super Saiyan 2 transformation, which did not appear to be the case in the anime. Though they may have fought with Goku in this form during the 7 years between the Cell Saga and Buu Saga, off-camera.

Gotenks occasionally says "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" when switching out in team battle, as in the famous internet meme.

Gogeta (Super Saiyan 4) Character Introduction reads "He is a warrior without peer, and demonstrates this by performing this by performing his ultimate move the "Big Bang Kamehameha", repeating the "this by performing".

When on the character selection, Vegito is spelled with an "I", but on the transformation options for Vegeta (Second Form) and Goku (End), it is spelled "Vegeto".

Sometimes when Shenron or Ultimate Shenron is about to grant a wish, he will say "That is a wish I cannot grant." Yet, he still grants it.

In the Wii version of the game, Giru is referred to as both Gill and Giru.

When Goku (GT) uses the Solar Flare, he says it as it is said in Japanese: "Taiyoken".

When Goku (GT) uses the Spirit Bomb, it is mistakenly called Spirit Ball, possibly mistranslated due to its original name in Japanese, Genkidama, whose translation is the latter.

Nuova Shenron is spelled two ways. On the character selection it is spelled Nuova Shenron, but in the GT saga, the subtitles for Goku spell it Nova Shenron.

When GT Kid Goku turns Super Saiyan 4 against Nuova Shenron in Story Mode, Goku will use his kid voice in the in-game cutscene.

In Dragon History, during the fight with Nam, Mr. Satan is shown on the signs and blimps even though he was not the champion yet.

In Chi-Chi's commentary about characters, she says on Grandpa Gohan that she would like to have met him. However, she indeed met him in the last episodes of Dragon Ball. The game might be disregarding this, though, as it was anime-only filler.

Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta's 2nd "color" turns his hair silver, which looks similar to the fan-made Super Saiyan 5. This color is also an option for SS4 Gogeta in Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi.

Whenever a Great Ape throws a rock, it is spelled "Gigant" instead of "Gigantic".

When Goku (Mid) uses the 20x Kaio-ken Kamehameha, the technique's name appears spelled "20x Kaiken Kamehameha" on the screen.

In the Story Mode scenario "Ultimate Super Gogeta", Omega Shenron's event dialogue is initially spoken without the effects normally placed on Christopher Sabat's voice. The correct voice is used, however, when he says "Who's there? Who are you?" to Gogeta during the fusion event scene and remain applied theron.

In the scenario "Ultimate Super Gogeta", "Saiyan" is spelled as "Siayan" on the subtitles whenever Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta uses a Blast 2 or an Ultimate Blast and says "Can you handle this, a Super Siayan 4?"

In the scenario "Ultimate Super Gogeta", Pan will say that Goku and Vegeta did Fusion, even before the prompt to fuse appears.

In the Italian translation of the game, during the intro of the "Dragon Fist Explosion! If Goku doesn't, who will?", the game states that "Goku explodes with a new special attack to stop Majin Buu" when it should say Hirudegarn.

SSJ Goku's lines are reused in his SSJ3 form for an unknown reason.

If Zangya beats Krillin, Master Roshi, Nam, or General Blue, she says "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was tough like me? Don't cha?" based on the song by Tori Alamaze and recorded by the Pussycat Dolls.

This game marks Brina Palencia's debut as Chiaotzu, though Monika Antonelli's voice clips are retained in gameplay and is consequently credited instead of Palencia in some places.

There are multiple credit mistakes for the English voice cast in the game's ending credits:

Chris Patton and Jason Liebrecht's roles of Turles and Tapion and swapped.

Hirudegarn is also erroneously credited to Liebrecht.

Christopher Sabat is credited for Syn Shenron.

Kyle Hebert is credited for Appule. This error is also present in the Character Reference section, though not the instruction booklet.